Following the success of Brahms' Hungarian Dances, Dvo?ák was persuaded by his publisher Simrock to compose a set of Slavonic Dances in a similar mold, to which the composer complied in 1878 with a set of Eight Pieces for ... more &raquoPiano Duet, Opus 42. It seems clear that Dvo?ák always intended these for orchestra, and he began to orchestrate them before the set was complete. They were an immediate success in both piano and orchestral formats, and were followed in 1887 by a second set of eight, published as Opus 72. The sixteen dances are infused with the spirit of Slavonic folk music, although they are in every sense original works. Only one of the dances makes use of known folk material (Opus 72 No. 5), which even then is transformed into something wholly individual in the crucible of the composer's creativity.&laquo less

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Album Description

Following the success of Brahms' Hungarian Dances, Dvo?ák was persuaded by his publisher Simrock to compose a set of Slavonic Dances in a similar mold, to which the composer complied in 1878 with a set of Eight Pieces for Piano Duet, Opus 42. It seems clear that Dvo?ák always intended these for orchestra, and he began to orchestrate them before the set was complete. They were an immediate success in both piano and orchestral formats, and were followed in 1887 by a second set of eight, published as Opus 72. The sixteen dances are infused with the spirit of Slavonic folk music, although they are in every sense original works. Only one of the dances makes use of known folk material (Opus 72 No. 5), which even then is transformed into something wholly individual in the crucible of the composer's creativity.